Running backwards

Yesterday I ran my favorite 6-mile loop in City Creek Canyon and the Avenues neighborhood of Salt Lake City, but I mixed it up a little. Instead of running up City Creek Canyon, across 11th Avenue and down Virginia St., I ran UP Virginia St., across 11th Avenue, and DOWN City Creek Canyon. This way, I end up running fewer uphill miles (about 2 instead of about 4 the other way), but obviously, since the net elevation gain/loss is the same, the uphill miles are steeper, and teh downhill miles are milder. I completely and thoroughly enjoyed this.

I think this is a good idea, to mix up your "usual" route every now and then by running it in reverse. No no, keep your eyes ahead of you, just run the route in reverse -- don't run backwards. It's a nice way to view your route a different way. It almost makes the same old neighborhoods look completely different. Try it. You'll like it.

I'm alive -- and I'm in!

For some reason, my access to blogger from my work computer is spotty. Maybe it's related to all the troubles Google has been having lately, who knows for sure. But right now it's working, so here I am.

The big news around these parts is the successful playing of the lottery... that is to say, I got in to the St George Marathon for October 3rd. What does this mean? Well, for one, it means I'm going to redo the title image on the blog, as I won't be triathlon training this summer as I had anticipated. Rather, I will be focused on improving overall fitness and getting faster so that I can finally, FINALLY nail the sub-5 marathon in St. George. I'm going to be so bold as to train for and aim for a 4:45 finish. It will require me to push myself, but I think I can do it.

The plan? Long tempo runs, long interval runs, double-ladder interval runs, tempo-interval runs, and just a whole lot of miles too. Ready or not...

In other news, my darling wife ran a killer 5k last Saturday. It was her 3rd 5k overall, but the first run she's done without me or anyone else running with her. It was really her first chance to open up and see what she could do. I expected her to do well and come in around 35 minutes or so. Instead, she blew that away and finished in 31:22! What an incredible run! I was really proud, she was really tired and is now really sore. She said she nearly puked a couple of times, I told her that's the sign of a well-run 5k. Congrats again, babe! You ROCKED it!

Now I have to go running. It's nearly 80 degrees outside. Don't know exactly what I'm going to do....

The Lottery, and At Least It Waited....

.... until after the marathon. That's what people tell me when I tell them how sick I was last week. Tuesday I went out for my first post-marathon run, which went alright. It was just a quick 4-miler outside at lunch. When I got back, I started to eat my leftovers-lunch, and just wasn't all that hungry. For some reason, it just wasn't at all appetizing, so I left half of it on my plate (and in my trashcan). By the time I got home that evening, I had pretty much hit the wall. I choked down dinner and ran some errands, but by the next morning I had a 101° fever. Wednesday and Thursday I was pretty laid out. By Friday I was pretty much over it, but still really weak, which lasted into Saturday as well.

Part of all this downtime gave me time to think. I really really want to run a sub-5 hour marathon. I got really really close last week. I don't know when I'll be ready to try again, but I decided to go ahead and enter the lottery for the St. George Marathon in October. This was my first marathon back in 2007. As you know, I didn't get in through the lottery last year, so this would be my second running of it. They've upped the limit of runners this year, as well as eliminated the "second chance" option, so hopefully the odds will be better than ever. I know what to expect this year, I'm starting in a much better position, fitness-wise, and I know what to train for. I'll be ready this time. I'm going to shatter that sub-5 goal.

...... if I get in.

Oooooh so close.

For those regular readers (yeah I know there's like 2 of you), you'll know that it is my (seemingly never-ending) quest to run a 5-hour marathon. Yes, I can run faster than the 11:20-something average pace needed to accomplish this feat (feet?), but not for 26+ miles. At least, not yet.

The race started off well. I got to the starting line with about 5 minutes to spare, just in time to hear them send off the wheelchair/handcart racers. I didn't have time to meet anyone that I knew was running in one of the two events that started when mine did (the half- or full-marathon), other than my neighbor. I basically had just enough time to turn on my garmin, take off my sweatshirt and warm-up pants and stuff them in a bag for later pickup, and that was it. They boomed the cannon, and 5 minutes later I crossed the starting line in the middle of the back of the pack.

Mile 1 - 10:44. I was trying to start off slow, slower than this.
Mile 2 - 11:09
Mile 3 - 10:52 - I started settling into a groove here, feeling pretty good.
Mile 4 - 10:40
Mile 5 - 10:45 - This is where the half marathoners split off for a bit while the marathoners make a loop of Sugarhouse Park. That's a hilly little loop, but nothing I couldn't handle at that point. I let 'er rip on the downhills and just tried to maintain form on the short but steep uphills. At this point the sun was still behind the clouds and it was a GORGEOUS morning.

Mile 6 - 11:08 - most of Sugarhouse park actually occurred during this mile.
Mile 7 - 11:15
Mile 8 - 11:02
Mile 9 - 11:19 - This is the area where I think I could have/should have gone a little faster
Mile 10 - 10:49
Mile 11 - 10:56
Mile 12 - 11:06
Mile 13 - 11:15

Halfway split: 2:28:05 (garmin) - should have known at this point that I wasn't likely to hit 5 hours, but I knew most of the hills were behind me.

Mile 14 - 10:50 - This is really very good because I saw the family just after the halfway point and stopped for hugs and kisses.
Mile 15 - 10:57
Mile 16 - 11:29 - Van Winkle is a long, boring place to run.
Mile 17 - 11:31
Mile 18 - 11:15 - I think these miles should have been a little faster too, but this is where I faced my first realy mental battle when I was trying to convince myself not to walk. I was leapfrogging a couple of Gallowalkers repeatedly, but eventually left most of them behind.
Mile 19 - 11:25
Mile 20 - 15:14 - This is where I saw the family again and stopped and talked for a few minutes. I don't know how the boost I got from that rest and the emotional lift of seeing everyone there compare to how I would have done if I hadn't stopped for so long (probably around 3 minutes... yeah, I know...)
Mile 21 - 11:42
Mile 22 - 12:00
Mile 23 - 13:00
Mile 24 - 12:07
Mile 25 - 12:45
Mile 26 - 12:32
Mile .18 (Garmin) - 3:12. My 2 girls ran in with me at the end... not that I would have been any faster without them there. I had nothing left.

Total time: 5:03:09 (Garmin). 5:03:13 chip. I'm pleased, but not satisfied. The sub-5 marathon is going to have to wait. But I know what I need to do to get there. At least I ran the whole thing, minus about 45-50 feet at one guy's impromtu aid station around mile 21-22.

All in all, I loved the Salt Lake Marathon. I seriously don't know what all the fuss is about (minus the flak about the organizer dude).

Organization - 8/10 (not enough food in the finish shoot when I got there, but at least there was still plenty of chocolate milk. Yum!)
Course - 7/10 -- that d*** hill they threw in going up State St. to South Temple this year really needs to go. Bad bad bad.
Medal - 8/10 -- Nice size, very attractive, but it doesn't have the year on the medal, just on the ribbon.
Crowd support - 7/10 -- Sparse in parts, but great at the end, and my wife and kids made it great at mile 14 and 20 as well. Also there were lots of residents that came out of their homes on the route to cheer on runners and put up impomptu aid stations.
My training - 6/10 -- I think I did pretty well, but a few more miles wouldn't hurt, and I need to do more long tempo runs / interval runs in the last couple of months. This is going to be key.

T-minus 15 hours

By this time tomorrow the Salt Lake City Marathon will be but a happy memory. Tonight, I have quite the "to do" list, including charging the iPod, new batteries in the Garmin, find my white running hat, blister-proof feet with liquid band-aid, pin bib to shirt, cut my hair and shower, make 2 peanut butter & honey sandwiches for pre-race nourishment, gather GU and powerade for the fuel belt, ad nauseum.

So, hopefully I'll have good (that is, sub-5 hour) news to share tomorrow. Either way, I'll write up a race report when I get back, after I've showered and possibly napped. The good news is there's no hotel bed to toss and turn on tonight. No, I get to toss and turn on my very own bed. This will be wierd. At least I slept well last night.

Where I'll be...

Okay, so I know dozens of people running in one of the events at the Salt Lake Marathon. Most I know will be running the half marathon, but since we all start at the same place, I thought I'd post where I'll be in case you'd like to meet up at the starting area. I will be under the last tree as you exit the runners staging area and head up the road to the start mat. I labeled the map below as best as I can remember from last year, so I hope it's about right and they don't change much. Worse case, I'll have my phone on me and my number is 801-755-9628. I can't believe I just posted that on the Internet.

Disclaimer: I may leave said post to hit the porta-loo or get some water, etc. But I'll be back.

Pretty dang perfect

Admittedly, it's still 6 days out, but this is looking just right...